Winter Queen
by The Layman
Summary: Long ago Rukia was adopted in the royal family of the Kingdom of Snow. Now, on the day of her coronation, she accidentally plunges the country into perpetual winter. Her younger sister Orihime heads out to find her and end the eternal snow, but can she survive the elements, as well as her own sister's powers, long enough to do so? (Chapter 4 posted, chapter 5 in production.)
1. Once upon a time

_Greetings everyone! Layman here, with another one of those bits of catharsis I've been doing occasionally in the last year and a half. _

_So who here likes Frozen? Well so do I, but it's not flawless; if you really pay attention, you could nitpick the heck out of it! It's by no means unwatchable, but let's just say I hope you have a strong suspension of disbelief. _

_Anyway, I actually got this idea from a piece of fan art, which doesn't really happen. It pretty much amounted to a side-by-side of Elsa and Rukia in her Bankai form. _

_And the story pretty much wrote itself 2.74009 seconds after that. _

_So without further adieu, I present to you; Winter Queen! (For the record, the location this story takes place in is fictional; no real world countries.)  
_

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_**Once upon a time, in a land far to the north**, was the Kingdom of Snow. Despite its name it was not always covered in a blanket of winter. Spring, Summer, and Autumn came around just like anywhere else, but nothing was as breathtaking as the sight of the countryside after the first snow of the season, when the fresh blanket of white lay untouched and pristine. _

_The king and queen weren't best best rulers all things considered, but they still were able to deal with the everyday problems of running a kingdom without inciting a revolt. However, where they lacked in management, they made up for in the love for their child in spades. They loved young Orihime most than life itself, and did all they could to protect her from harm. _

_One summer night, a fierce thunderstorm raged outside the palace. The royal family was sitting together in the great hall, comforting their daughter against the booming thunder, when a booming of a different kind echoed through the hall; not a thunderclap, but the sound of someone pounding on the castle doors. _

_A moment later one of the servants rushed in, "Your Majesties, there is a young woman collapsed on the steps of the entrance. Shall we bring her inside?" _

"_Yes, do so at once!" the kind demanded, not so heartless as to ignore someone in need. The woman was brought inside and set before the fire, so as to counteract the cold, "Go and fetch some dry clothes as well! No sense in-" _

_He stopped when he felt the woman tug on his robes. _

"_Forget about me," she said weakly, "but please...take care of my sister." With her free hand she undid the clasp on the cloak she wore, tugging it aside to reveal a child (who looked to be around Orihime's age) clutching to her waist. The girl was almost an exact copy of her sister save for her hair, which was almost pure white._

_Suddenly, the woman started coughing violently, blood and spit staining the king's robes she still held. Then she lapsed into unconsciousness. _

"_Take her to a healer," the king commanded, "if there's a chance she can saved…. As for the child, my wife and I will raise her; besides, Orihime could use a playmate." _

__/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_

_A year passed, and Orihime and the new girl (Orihime learned the girl's name was Rukia) became fast friends, often playing together whenever they could. The king and queen adopted her as their own and she and Orihime were thick as thieves. Eventually Rukia even broke out of her dour and timid state she'd been in when she'd arrived. _

_One evening, Orihime sneaked through the halls of the palace, searching for the room the Rukia was staying in. She'd snuggled some sweets into bed with her, devouring them after her parents had tucked her in, and now she was awake and restless. _

_"Rukia!..." she called softly, peeking in another door. This one, just like the last twenty or so, turned out to be empty; there were so many unused or empty rooms in the praise, at least in the areas she often roamed (she'd never been in the servant's quarters), that she wondered how any of the adults found their way around. Well, onto door number Twenty-something and One._

_Success greeted her on the next door, sticking her head inside to find Rukia sound asleep inside, her bleached white hair seeming to for glow the moonlight. _

"_Rukia…!" she whispered again, slightly louder now in hopes of waking her. _

"_Go away Hime-chan!" the older girl mumbled, shuffling in her bed so she faced away from her adopted sister. "It's the middle of the night, go back to sleep…." _

"_But I can't!" the young girl said, climbing into Rukia's bed and flopping on top of her. "The Sky's awake, so _I'm _awake," she stated melodramatically, "Please play something with me, pleeeeeaaaase?" _

"_No, just let me sleep," Rukia moaned, shoving Orihime onto the floor. "Play by yourself." _

_Orihime pouted, annoyed the her sister would come do something fun with her. Then, she got a brilliant idea, a surefire way to get Rukia to play with her. She scampered back onto the bed, then leaned in close to Rukia's ear, "...We can build a snowman!"_

_In no time at all the two of them were racing towards the ballroom, each excited for their own reasons. Upon entering the grand hall, Orihime began bouncing in place and prompting "Make it snow!" With a little bit of pizzaz Rukia gathered up a ball of magic energy in her hands, then threw it up to the ceiling, where it exploded on contact and rained down as snow. Orihime giggled, rushing around as she tried to catch snowflakes in her mouth. _

_They frolicked for hours, having the time of their lives in the artificial winter wonderland in every way possible; Rukia constructed a misshapen snow effigy of her sister ("I think I'm gonna call him Olaf." "...Why?" "He looks like an Olaf."), she stomped her foot and covered the floor in ice (which they slipped and slid around on), they slid down a bumpy snow mound, and tons more. _

"_Rukia, try and catch me!" Orihime yelled, leaping off a snowbank. Rukia smirked knowingly and shot a blast of magic where Orihime would land, making a tower of snow to cushion her landing. Orihime leapt again, higher this time, and Rukia adjusted the snow tower accordingly. Again and again the young princess jumped, becoming so engrossed in the delight that she didn't realize that Rukia was starting to have a hard time keeping up. In fact, Rukia was concentrating so hard on keeping up with her sister that she accidentally lost her footing on the ice and fell over. Orihime didn't notice this and kept on leaping, unaware of the mortal peril she was now in. Reacting more on instinct than on reason, Rukia shot a magic blast as she reached out, which struck the younger girl right in the temple. _

"_Hime-chan!" Rukia shrieked, rushing over the snowbank where Orihime had landed. (The blast had thankfully directed her to a soft landing, though Rukia was too distraught to realize it.) "Hime-chan, please wake up!" _

_Orihime didn't wake up. _

_Rukia began sobbing, "Orihime, _please…_." She scooped Orihime up in a hug, but all that did was alert her to the fact that sister's heart was barely beating. _

_Close to hysterical now, Rukia called out for the only people she knew who could possibly fix this. Gathering up her sister, she ran as fast as she could to her mother's and father's bedchambers. _

"_Otou-sama! Okaa-sama! Help!" _

__/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_

_Two horses raced through the woods, constantly urged forward by their distraught riders. It was a battle against time, and any delay at all could prove disastrous. _

_Neither the king or queen had wanted any of their servants to accompany them as they made this trip, so they'd dismissed all the commotion as merely an unfortunate accident, and explained that they would tend to their daughters themselves. (This was mostly the king's doing, as the queen was busy comforting Rukia.) After the stablehand and had saddled their horses they'd made all haste to seek aid for their youngest daughter. _

_Eventually they reached a clearing hidden deep in the forest where an expert healer was reported to live. The king dismounted his horse, helping his wife and daughters down as well. He then pounded on the door of the small hut that stood there, "Please open up, my daughter needs help immediately!" _

_A moment later the door opened, revealing a woman with hair that reached down to the floor. She was older than the king and queen, though by no means wizened, and had a face that reminded one of their kindly grandmother. _

"_Bring her inside," she said, gesturing to the mother and daughters, "I'll see what I can do." They followed the healer inside the hut, laying Orihime down on the bed. "How did this happen?" she asked as she tended to the comatose child. _

"_I-it was an accident," Rukia stammered, clinging to her mother's dress, "We were playing…, and then she jumped, and I- I…" Tears began to well up in Rukia's eyes. __d_

"_There, there," the queen shushed, embracing her daughter in a gentle hug, "It was an accident; Orihime will be fine." _

_The healer, who was called Unohana, rested her hand on Orihime's forehead and closed her eyes, concentrating. A faint glow appeared where the two skins met, "It's lucky it was her head that the magic struck, otherwise the damage would be more severe." She drew her hand back, "I dread to think what would happen if it had been her heart instead…" _

"_But how could you know that just by touching her?" the king asked, now his turn to stammer. _

"_I have some affinity to Magic as well, though not like your daughter," Unohana explained, "my skills lie mostly in the healing arts, though I can do a few other tricks as well. Besides-" she picked up a tuft of Orihime's hair that had turned almost pure white. "-I could read the scar." _

"_Can our daughter be healed?" the queen asked. _

"_It's doable...though there may be some permanent damage," the healer warned. "I'll do my best to save what I can." She gathered magic energy in her hands and placed them both on Orihime's head, the magic sinking beneath her skin effortlessly. After a moment Unohana announced "She will be fine now." _

"_Ano…," Rukia piped up, having just found the courage to speak again, "will she remember anything?"_

"_Yes and no," Unohana told the girl, "She'll remember that you two had many fun adventures together, though if she'll be able to recall any specifics I can't say." _

"_We'll just have to deal with that as it comes," the king said, kneeling next to Unohana's bed and stroking his daughter's hair. _

"_And what about Rukia's powers," the queen asked, "is there anything you can do to help with them?" _

"_I'm afraid not," Unohana sighed, "and before you ask I can't take them away, not unless she was cursed with them." She kneeled down to Rukia's level, "Have you always had these powers, dear?" _

"_Mmhmm," Rukia nodded, "since I was born." _

"_Do you want to keep them?" she asked gently. _

"_I...yes, I do, but I don't want to hurt Hime-chan again either." _

_Unohana stood up again and addressed the parents, "Then my advice to you is to help her learn to control her powers better so this won't happen again in the future. I have a friend who has similar magic to Rukia here, but she lives far to the west and it is difficult to correspond with her; the last time I received a letter from her was almost two years ago." _

"_You've done more than enough already," the king said, "I'm sure we can handle it from here." _

__/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_

"_Move over Doofus, I can't see!" _

"_You can see fine, now shut up before someone hears you!" _

_Ichigo scoffed, continuing to shove against his friend to get a better view at what was happening inside the hut. He and Uryu had been on their way back from helping the older men with the ice harvest when they'd very nearly been trampled by the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Snow riding at breakneck speed. While strange in and of itself, especially in the middle of the night, what was stranger was the trail of heavy frost they left in their wake. Uryu had been against following them at first, but had been pressured by Ichigo until he finally relented. _

_Which was why they were here now, peering through the window of a small hut in a clearing they never knew existed, spying on the royal family. _

"_Seriously, I can hardly see anything!" _

"_What are you complaining about? You're not the one who needs glass in front of his eyes to see!" _

"_Yeah, but that glass helps you see better, right?" Ichigo reasoned (albeit flawed reasoning), "So you should let the poor soul with normal eyes have more room to see!" _

"_Or I could tell you what is happening." _

_The two boys nearly jumped out of their skins as the turned around to find the healer lady standing right behind them. _

"_It's not nice to eavesdrop where you're not invited," Unohana lectured. "What are you even doing here anyway?" _

"_We were just coming back from ice farming," Uryu explained, hurriedly adjusting his glasses (which had become askew in his fright), "but 'mud-for-brains' here-" _

"_You wanted to see where the ice lead to!" Ichigo protested._

"_Frost," Uryu corrected, "and that was only _after _you'd pressured me into going!" _

"_Boys," Unohana interrupted, sounding gentle and serene. Despite this, and without any apparent reason behind it, she seemed to radiate pure dread so intense that it felt like they were going to see what if there was an afterlife or not. _

"_Y-y-you're not going to… *gulp*, eat us," Ichigo wondered, "are you?" _

_Unohana continued smiling, the dread beginning to manifest visually as a dark cloud. _

_The two boys were quite close to soiling their pants now._

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**To be continued...  
**


	2. There was a queen

_Alright folks, here's chapter 2! __(For the record, the location this story takes place in is fictional; no real world countries.)_

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_15 years later…_

Rukia was pacing nervously around her room, trying to get her nerves under control before her coronation. She'd just turned 18 a few days ago, and the according to the laws of the land it was her responsibility as the eldest child of the king and queen to step up as acting monarch.

To say she was terrified of doing this so suddenly after nearly fifteen years of isolation would be putting it lightly.

If she could, she'd hand the responsibility off to Orihime...if not for the fact that her sister tended to be a bit scatterbrained and clumsy most of the time, at least according to what the servants told her.

Still, there was nothing she could do now. Her parents would have been proud of her, going through with this despite the anxiety that threatened to cripple her.

She hoped...

One of the servants knocked on the door, _"Princess Rukia, are you ready?" _

"Yes, I'll be out in a minute," she called back, managing to keep the fear from her voice.

Having bought herself a few more minutes, Rukia went to her closet and retrieved a wooden sword she kept there. She held the sword to her chest, one hand holding the hilt and the other resting along the blade, and imagined she was at her coronation, standing in front of all her subjects. Even just the thought of all their eyes focused on her made her immediately anxious, and soon ice began to creep out from her hands along the blade. She immediately threw the sword away and rushed to her bed, grasping one of the post for support. Her breathing was heavy and her chest felt tight.

If she made it through this, she vowed she would conquer her fear.

"I hope Orihime is taking this better than I am…," she sighed.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Orihime was sprawled haphazardly on her bed, fast asleep, half buried in the covers, her hair currently looking like a rat's nest, and was drooling on her pillow.

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZ!"

And she snored.

However, a rather loud knocking on her bedroom door jolted her out of slumberland.

"ZZZZZ-Enraku did it!" she exclaimed, shooting upright. (Her hair somehow retained its shape.)

"_Are you awake yet, Princess?"_ a servant asked from outside.

"Absolutely!" she chirped drowsily. "I've been...up...for hours…."

A moment of silence...

"_Um...Princess?"_

"ZZZ-Still here!"

"_You _do _remember what today is, correct?"_

"Yeah," she yawned, "...It's Thursday, right?"

"_It's your sister's coronation, Highness. I'm sure she'd be grateful if you were to make an appearance." _

"Sure, sure," she said, waving dismissively. (Not that the servant could see that.) She rubbed her eyes, and noticed the dress that had been put out the night before. Whether by this or simply because she was now lucid enough to access her memory, all the facts clicked together and she suddenly realized how late it actually was. She threw the covers off, rapidly (and rabidly) tamed her mane of hair into something manageable, and did her best to wriggle her way into her dress without tearing it.

All that accomplished, she burst out into the hallway and ran as fast as she could to reach the church in time for Rukia's coronation as Queen of the Kingdom of Snow. Along the way she passed servants and subjects alike, always managing a greeting as she did; sometimes she had to offer an apology when she bumped into people, but that only happened about eight times.

Seeing the steeple of the church over the rooftops, she tried to take a shortcut by the wharfs. To her credit it was a good decision, as there weren't very many people working there today and she could run unimpeded.

That is, if she hadn't nearly collided with a horse.

"Look out!" the rider shouted, Orihime veering sharply to the left. While it saved her from a collision, it also caused her trip onto a pier, with a cold bath waiting for her if she couldn't find her balance.

Fortunately, she was saved from forcibly taking a dip in the fjord by the rider, who was able to catch her arm at the last second before she hit the water.

"Are you alright, my Lady?" he asked.

Try as she might, Orihime could do nothing but stare into the soft, gentle eyes of the man who'd just saved her; he was older than her, though he looked like he could easily pass for being between 20 and 30 years of age. His eyes (much like the rest of his face, she now noticed) had an air of kindness to them, one that reminded Orihime of her father.

Though he was much more attractive than her father had been, in her opinion.

"Oh, you're fine," she said, still in a bit of a daze. Almost immediately she realized what she said. "I mean _I'm_ fine, not you," she quickly amended, "N-not that you aren't fine as well! ...I mean, we're both fine. That is to say we're both safe now, and-"

"Perhaps we should continue this on dry land?" The man suggested, pulling Orihime to her feet.

Orihime nodded, not trusting her mouth to not betray her thoughts at present.

"Let's start things fresh," he said one they were both back on the cobblestone pavement, giving a tight bow, "I'm Aizen of the Southern Isles."

"Princess Orihime of the Kingdom of Snow," she said, curtseying in return. "So I guess you're here for my sister's coronation, right?"

"Yes, I am." He quickly hopped back up on his horse, reaching down to offer the process a hand up, "We should hurry if we don't want to miss it."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

With the help of Aizen's steed they both made it to the church with time to spare, Orihime hurriedly thanking him and rushing inside to take her place in the ceremony.

As stealthily as she could, (though she had a few close calls when she accidentally bumped into some pedestals), she made her way to the back of the Sanctuary, where she took her place next to the altar, where her sister was currently kneeling.

Orihime look out at the citizenry gathered in the pews, a few of which were murmuring to themselves and pointing subtly at her. She felt her cheeks redden.

Looking over at Rukia, she felt a small twinge of jealousy for how calm and composed her adopted sister was during all this.

She couldn't have been farther from the truth, as Rukia was very nearly on the verge of trembling. The young Queen knew that the attention of every person seated behind her would be focused directly at her the moment she stood up, all their eyes boring into her and probing her innermost secrets.

Still, all she had to do was maintain her facade until the ceremony was over and she'd made it to the reception, then everyone would be mingling and talking with each other instead of focusing on her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Orihime standing to the side and she smiled inwardly; at least her family was here, and that took some of the edge off her anxiety.

The priest motioned for her to rise, and she did so, screwing up her reserves of courage. He then began reciting her inauguration rites, but she tuned this out. She needed all her attention focused staying calm, and thinking about what was going on around her would only make her anxiety worse.

She snapped back to awareness when a tiara was placed on her head; it was the same one her mother had worn, crafted from gold and set with brilliant diamonds. Then the priest retrieved a sword from the altar and presented it to Rukia.

It was a beautiful sword, though one unlike any she'd seen before. The hilt was wrapped in cloth instead of leather, the guard was only two and a half inches wide and formed a circle around the hilt, and instead of being a two sided blade like the ones the soldiers of this country wore, it had only one edge on it. It was also slightly curved, so the bladed side appeared longer than the blunt side. Besides it's shape, it was colored almost entirely white; even the blade had a paleness to it beyond the normal steel.

"Your Majesty," the priest said as she reached out to take the sword from him, "your gloves, if you please?"

She looked down at her hands, clad in a pair of light blue gloves. She'd been told by the instructor the day before that she wasn't allowed to wear them during the coronation, but in her addled state of mind she'd grabbed them before she left for the church on reflex. They helped her keep her powers in check, especially when she was required to interact with other people. And now, when she needed them most….

Hoping she wouldn't regret it, she removed her gloves (sticking them in one of her sleeves) and gripped the sword like she had her wooden one earlier.

Then she turned and faced the gathered citizenry.

Immediately she felt their stares on her as the priest recited the final oaths. Try as she might, she couldn't suppress her anxiety, and she felt frost beginning to crystallize around where she held the sword.

_No, please don't let this be happening!_ she thought, straining to remain composed. _Don't think about it, just keep it inside…_

"...to you, Queen Rukia of the Kingdom of Snow!" the priest announced, followed by the sound of jubilant applause. As quickly as she could without looking undignified, Rukia handed the sword back to the priest and put her gloves back on, before turning back and addressing the people.

She let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief; now all she had to do was survive an evening of greeting foreign dignitaries and she could go back to her normal life….

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

The grand hall of the palace was made up with fine greenery and torches, and tables of fine desserts and finger foods were placed along either side of the room. On a platform in the center a six piece band played a sprightly waltz that many couples danced to. Those who weren't dancing stood off to the side so they wouldn't be in the way, chatting amongst themselves about politics or trade or just gossiping, though the topic inevitably ended up on the the young queen and what her rule would mean for their own country.

The young queen herself stood by the dais at the far end of the hall, watching the merriment play out around her. Occasionally one of the visiting dignitaries would come up to her and give her their best wishes for her rule, though for the most part she kept to herself and let other do as they pleased.

She wanted to join in the festivities, maybe have a few dances (the ladies dancing looked so happy with their partners), but she couldn't take the risk that she would reveal her powers.

"Um, Rukia?"

Rukia turned and saw Orihime standing hesitantly a little ways back from her, nervously wringing her hands.

"Hello Orihime," she said, just as shyly as her sister. It had been so long since the two of them had actually interacted with one another that neither knew what to say to the other.

"Congratulations," Orihime ventured after a while, "...Your Majesty?"

"Thanks." Rukia looked out at the Great Hall, admiring all the effort that must have went into preparing it. "The party looks spectacular, doesn't it?"

"I know, right!" She exclaimed, clearly excited about the event. "Everything is just so amazing: the room, the music, the food- *urp!*"

By the sound of it Orihime had already sampled a few if the dishes before she'd come over here.

"I'll have to try some later," the queen said, trying to suppress a chuckle. "Say, do you remember that time when we were young and we broke into the food pantry in the kitchen?"

"Do I ever! The cook was so mad at us that all he ever made us plain porridge for a month!"

"And Mother and Father forbade us from playing outside for a week!"

"But all those pastries were _sooo _worth it!"

"They really were..."

Both girls smiled, sighing longingly at the fond memories of their childhood.

"I miss those days…," Orihime said, becoming somber, "I miss all the fun we used to have together."

"I do too," Rukia agreed. "Hopefully that can change soon."

"What do you mean?"

However, before Rukia could answer, she was interrupted by another guest.

"Ahem!"

She turned to greet him...only to find there was no one there.

"Down here, Your Majesty!"

Upon looking down, both Rukia and Orihime found the owner of the voice; a tiny, elderly gentleman with a smile that belied his age.

"How do you do, Sir?" the Queen said, stooping down the the man's level.

"Better than my old age suggests, I assure you. Actually, I was wondering if Her Majesty would grace me with a dance?"

"I'm sorry," Rukia apologized, standing back up, "but I'm afraid I don't dance." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "Though perhaps my sister would oblige you."

"Me? Really?" Orihime looked more embarrassed than she did at the coronation, "I mean, I do know how to dance a little bit, but-"

"Then it's settled!" the man suddenly announced, taking Orihime's hand, "Come my dear, let me show you why everyone back home calls me 'The Little Dipper'!"

As he dragged her off, Orihime looked back at Rukia pleadingly, who shrugged sheepishly and mouthed "sorry".

To his credit, the little man was a very good dancer. Despite him being in his golden years he moved with a energy and a fire that would put younger men to shame.

Unfortunately, because of the drastic size difference, it was rather hard to keep up with him.

"So tell me," he said as he shimmied around on the floor, "do you think your sister will finally lift the border restrictions now that's queen? I know for a fact that there are many people in Foire who would come to visit here."

"I-I'm not sure," the princess stammered, "we don't really talk about about politics. ...or really much of anything, to be honest."

"Really? I find it hard to believe you two don't get along; you both seemed perfectly happy talking to each other before."

"It's..._complicated_."

"Honey, trust me, nothing is ever as complicated as people make it seem. I'm sure that if you talk about what the problem is then-"

"May I cut in?"

"Aizen!" Orihime turned around and saw the charming man from before standing behind her, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it would be rather pointless for the representative of the Southern Isles to miss the event he was sent to attend on the first place, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it would, huh?"

"You two know each other?" the little man asked.

"We ran into each other earlier," Orihime explained, "_literally_; he kinda saved me from falling off the docks."

"And I got us to the coronation on time as well," Aizen added.

"Yeah, that too."

"Well, I'll just leave you crazy kids to it," the old man said, "let you get to know each other. Me, I'm gonna go see if that Xingese ambassador wants to dance!"

"What a funny little man," Orihime said after he left.

"Indeed." Aizen held his hand out, "Would you still care to dance?"

"Oh! Uh, sure!"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Aizen and Orihime spent the rest of the evening together: dancing, taking a tour of the gardens, watching the moon from a tower balcony, they always found something to occupy their time. They also talked a lot, and found out they had so many things in common, too.

"Get out!"

"I'm serious; I've liked chocolate covered strawberries ever since I was a little boy! I'd buy them whenever I got the chance."

"Me too! Wow, it's almost like we were destined to meet or something!"

"Funny you should mention that," he said, before getting down on one knee. "Orihime, you are quite possibly the most beautiful, charming, and sweetest person I've ever met. Would you think I was crazy if I asked for your hand in marriage?"

"Would you think I was crazy if I said yes?" she asked in return, nearly bursting with excitement.

"Brilliant!" Aizen shot to his feet, "But first, let's go find your sister; I wouldn't feel right about doing this without her blessing."

"OK then, let's go!" They both hurried back the Great Hall, and after weaving through the throngs of people they found her talking with the Xingese ambassador. "Rukia, can we talk to you for a minute?"

"_Qǐng yuánliàng wǒ yī fēnzhōng,"_ Rukia told the ambassador, turning to her sister and Aizen, "What is it? ...and who's this?"

"Well," Orihime began, "This is Aizen, and…." She was bursting with so much excitement that she couldn't find the words to express it.

"What Princess Orihime is trying to say," Aizen jumped in, "is that we want to get married."

"_What!?"_ Rukia exclaimed. If she were drinking something at that moment, it would probably be on Orihime's and Aizen's faces.

"We wanted to get your approval before hand," he continued, "but yes, we'd like to be wed as soon as possible."

"Oooh! We could have the wedding right on the Autumn Equinox; everything's so beautiful just when the leave begin to change color!"

"Wait" Rukia protested, "you-"

"And we could invited Aizen's family to come live with use until then! ...Wait, how many brothers did you say you have?"

"12 brothers, and 5 sisters."

"Perfect!"

"Hime-chan-"

"But will we even have enough rooms for all of them? Oh well, we can figure that out later. In the mean time, I still need out pick out a dress, and figure out what food we're going to serve, and what flowers to put in the bouquet, and-"

"_Orihime!" _Rukia's tone was so unexpectedly forceful that it caught Orihime off guard, actually scaring her a little; she shrunk back behind Aizen's arm. "Hime-chan," she said, calmer this time, "Can I have a word with you?" She glanced at Aizen, "_In private?"_

"No," Orihime said, slowly regaining her courage, "If this is about Aizen, then you should just tell him directly."

"Very well," she conceded, "I'll speak plainly." She turned to address Aizen directly, "I don't think you should marry my sister. To start with, you two only just met tonight."

"That's not true," Orihime corrected, "we met earlier today, before the coronation."

"_My point is,"_ the queen enunciated, "that you cannot know someone is in love with you in less than a day."

"You can if it's true love!" her sister countered.

"That's besides the point! Besides that, he looks like he's nearly twice your age! Our parents wouldn't have approved."

"_My_ parents aren't here right now," Orihime bit, letting her anger get the better of her, "And even if they were, they would have been happy for me."

"They may not be here, but I am. I'm your sister, but more importantly, I'm the queen, and I forbid you to marry this man."

"_You're not actually my sister." _

She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.

Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

"If that's really how you feel, then I won't stop you," Rukia said darkly, "feel free to leave with him on whatever ship he came on." She turned and started walking towards the doors.

"Rukia wait!" Orihime pleaded, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said, honest!" She ran after her adopted sister, grabbing onto her hand, "Please wait!"

"No, stay away from me!" Rukia swung her arm, throwing Orihime back. It was then Rukia noticed that all the other guests were staring at them now. She was too angry to care. "Everyone!" she addressed the crowd, "You can all all go home now."

"Please Rukia," Orihime said as Aizen helped her up, "if we could just talk about this-"

"_I said NO!"_ Rukia screamed, swiping her arm through the air in emphasis.

...and causing ice to spring up on the floor.

It was only after that happened that Rukia realized that she was missing her glove.

"No…," she breathed, fear suddenly engulfing her. She looked up at the crowd again, only this time she felt the full force of all their stares. Still, she tried to control the damage, "Everyone, I can explain-"

"_She's a which!"_ someone unseen yelled.

"Monster!" a duchess, who had greeted her before, cowered.

"I'm not a monster!" Rukia cried, throwing her hands up in what she meant to be a reassuring gesture.

Unfortunately, what happened was that she shot an ice blast from her ungloved hand, freezing the pillar the duchess was standing by.

This caused everyone to start panicing.

Freeing what would happen if she remained, Rukia rushed out of the hall as fast as she could, trying to get away from anyone she could possibly harm in her state. She rushed through the halls, brushing past the servants, and bursting through the large front door of the palace.

The square in front of the palace was filled with people still celebrating her coronation.

"It's the queen!" someone announced. "Long live the Queen!"

"Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen!" the crowd cheered.

To Rukia it all sounded like a ringing in her ears. This was the worst thing that could have happened; out of one hell, and right into an even bigger one. She felt all their eyes crawling all over her, trying to probe deep inside her. Her chest suddenly got extremely tight, and it got hard for her to breath.

_I have to get away from here,_ the thought raced through her head, replaying over and over. _If I can just get out of the city_….

"Somebody call the guards!" one of the dignitaries called as he rushed out after Rukia, "She's a witch!"

"I'm not a witch!" she protested, accidentally freezing the water in a nearby fountain. Someone in the crowd called the guards, which lead to other people calling the guards, and eventually some of the bolder citizens picked up rocks and began tossing them at her, with shouts of "Begone!" or "Burn her!".

Unable to bear the ridicule, Rukia turned and ran blindly in a random direction. She didn't care where she ended up, so long as she got from people. Tears now fell down her cheeks, unable to be held back any longer.

By the time the guards had mustered and gone after their new queen it was too late. She was already halfway across the fjord when they spotted her, freezing the water with every step she took. The ice kept expanding, and soon it reached the ships of all the foreign guests, effectively stranding them in the Kingdom of Snow.

Eventually Orihime and Aizen made it to the edge of the water, just in time to see Rukia disappear into the forest on the other side of the fjord, the trail of winter still following her.

"Rukia!" Orihime called out, her only reply being the echo that followed three seconds later. She slumped to the ground as a light snow began to fall, still clutching her sister's glove in her hands. "Rukia," she sobbed, "what have I done?..."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_Translation: "Excuse me for a moment." *roughly*_


	3. Who ran away

_So, I'd like to send a belated thank you to Animaddie and Ayato-Sama for pointing out a couple of typos that I missed in the first chapter. They have since been corrected, so thank you to the both of you for helping to make this story a little bit better._

_Also, just to clarify, this story takes place in a fictional universe made up of countries from different Anime. There are no real world locations. (I apparently made this fact too subtle. My bad, I guess.) _

_Anyway, let's get back to the story. _

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Rukia didn't know how far or for how long she ended up running, but it didn't matter. After all of her worst fears started coming true before her eye she just couldn't handle it anymore. Everyone hated her now, including the one person in the entire country, the entire _world_ for that matter, who still mattered; her sister, the only family she had left.

It was her hate that hurt the most; everything after that had just been pouring salt in the wound.

She recalled the words the healer had spoken all those years ago….

"_How come you live so far from the town?" Rukia asked, sitting on the bed next to her slumbering sister, "If you lived closer, it would be easier to help people, right?"_

_Unohana frowned, "I live so far from others because of my magic. Not everyone who is blessed with these powers uses them for good, and that has given the rest of us that do a stigma." _

"_But if you just tell them that you can heal people-" _

"_They still wouldn't trust the powers themselves." Unohana knelt down to Rukia's level, "Humans are scared of the things they don't understand, often without good reason." _

Those words had stuck with her throughout her childhood and through her adolescence, only now she finally understood what the healer had been saying.

Her powers had always been the source of her anxiety after that fateful night. Ever since then she'd tried to refrain from using them, for the safety of everyone around her.

However it proved impossible when the powers themselves wouldn't be contained.

_The king and queen burst through the doors of their adopted daughter's bedroom, only to stop in their tracks as they beheld what was inside; the entire room was covered in a thick layer of frost, with Rukia huddled in the corner, surrounded by a miniature blizzard. _

"_Oh my goodness…" the queen gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. _

"_I can't make it go away," the young girl whimpered, "Please, don't come any closer." _

"_Rukia…," the king said, stepping forward despite the warning. _

"_Mate!" she shouted, stopping her father right before a giant spike of ice rose from the floor directly in front of him. "Please stay back!" she pleaded, "I don't want to hurt you…"_

"_Don't worry, we'll stay right here," her father said, sitting next to the giant spike, motioning for his wife to join him, "we'll wait for you to come to us." _

Soon after her parents come up with a solution.

"_These are for you," the queen said, handing Rukia a pair of blue, fitted gloves. "They're to help you control your powers." _

"_Are they magic?" she asked, turning them over in her hands. _

"_No," the king answered, "but since you tend to freeze the things you touch, they'll act as a barrier between your skin and everything else; that way you can handle them without coating them in ice." _

"_Try them on, the queen urged._

Her adopted parents had always been there for her, even through her worst moments; they had been the one thing that could pierce through her angst and her fear and keep her sane.

_Rukia clung to her mother's gown, "Do you really have to go?"_

"_I'm afraid so, dear," the queen said, rubbing Rukia's back tenderly, "the king of Fiore invited us to attend the special tournament he's hosting, and it would be rude of us to refuse the invitation." _

"_We won't be gone long," the king assured her, "we'll be back well inside of a fortnight, and you're a strong girl; it'll be like no time at all has passed once we return!"_

It was not even a week later that an arriving merchant ship brought the new of a terrible shipwreck they passed. There were no survivors, and the flag they brought back bore the colors of the Kingdom of Snow. Rukia had been so distraught by the news that she locked herself in her room, refusing to attend the memorial service held for them, and hadn't visited their gravestones.

_Rukia sat with her back against her door, staring off into nothing. She'd already cried all the tears she could, and now felt like doing nothing for the rest of her days._

_A suddenly knock on the door jarred her out of her stupor, and she was about see who it was when she a voice on the other side. _

"_Rukia?" her sister asked, "Are you OK?" _

_She didn't answer, sinking back down to the floor. Of all the times for Orihime to seek her out, it would be the one time when she just wanted to be alone._

"_Please come out?" she pleaded. "I want us to have fun like we used to when we were kids! We don't even have to do anything, we could- ...we could just talk." _

_Rukia stayed silent, trying to keep the new well of tears from bursting forth. She stared back into space, watching the snowflakes hang suspended in the air._

"_That's fine," Orihime said after not receiving an answer, "you must still be pretty sad; I'll leave you alone until you feel better." _

All these memories swirled around in Rukia's head as she continued to run forward, until finally she allowed herself to stop. After catching her breath she saw that in her frazzled haste she'd scaled partway up a mountain. Down below she could see the Kingdom of Snow spread out before her, with the palace and the town surrounding it looking like dollhouses in the distance.

_They're better off without me,_ she reasoned, staring down at the place she used to call home. Without hesitation she unclasped the cape from her shoulders and threw it off the side of the mountain, a clear act of defiance against the people who rejected her. She was about to throw her tiara off as well, but thought better of it before it left her hand. It and her sole remaining glove were all she had left to remember her adopted parents by, and to throw them away so callously would be just as worse as if she'd spit on their graves.

She put the tiara back on, though in reverse as a constant symbol of her defiance, then she tucked her glove into her sleeve. With that done, she began gathering up magic around her dress, causing tiny ice crystals to form on it; what was once a dress of dull blue fabric now glistened and sparkled in the moonlight, more delicate and brilliant than silk. She directed some of the magic around the tiara, accenting it was shards of pointy ice.

The ledge she'd come to rest on was very wide, wide enough to build a small house on even. Stomping her foot down, she covered the surface of the ledge in ice, then she began forming the structure of her around her; a giant spire of ice, covered in facets and vertices, with many smaller spires at regular intervals. The entrance was formed with massive, functioning doors, and an elegant balcony above it to look out over the land. From the entrance to a point further down the mountain side was a gleaming staircase that put to shame anything in the Palace.

As Rukia stood atop her creation she fired blasts of magic energy into the forest, reveling in the freedom she now possessed in spades. Again and again she fired, finally allowing herself to laugh and let loose and just _be herself_! To be free of the fear, of the expectations, of the constant threat of suspicion, of those who considered her their queen turning against her….

It was the first time in years she'd felt _human_.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

For hours Orihime sat on the steps of the palace, turning her sister's glove over in her hands and wishing she could reverse time and take back the awful things she said. Thinking back on it, she shuddered at how hateful she sounded to her only remaining family.

She was still mulling things over when Aizen walked up to her. "How are you doing?"

"As well as I can be," she shrugged, "considering I pretty much caused my sister to hate me forever and also cause winter to come months early."

"I'm sure you didn't mean what you said," Aizen consoled, sitting beside her, "And deep down, I'm sure she knows it as well."

"If that's true, then it must be so deep that the light can't reach it." She let herself fall over onto Aizen's lap, turning so she was facing the sky. "I just wish I could apologize to her, but now she's gone..."

"Who's to say you can't?" he proposed. "She ran off on foot, right? You could probably catch up to her on a good horse."

Orihime suddenly shot up, determination shining in her eyes, "You're right! I shouldn't be moping around, feeling sorry for myself, I should be running after her!" She called over the nearest guard, "Have someone fetch my horse from the stables, I'm going after the queen."

"Are you sure that's wise your highness?" the guard asked cautiously. "The Queen was obviously upset when she ran off, and there's your own safety to think of."

"He makes a good point, Princess," agreed Aizen.

"It's no use trying to talk me out of it, this is something I need to do myself," she said resolutely, making her way to the town square. She turned to the guard again, "And make sure it's the fastest horse we have; the sooner I catch up to my sister the better."

When Orihime arrived at the square, with Aizen trailing in her wake, she found a crowd of people gathered around a man who was standing on the back of a cart, yelling some rather untrue things about his Queen.

"This is how it all starts," he yelled, "with the nasty creatures weaseling their way onto the throne before enslaving us for their own nefarious purposes! Why, I'll bet that it was the Witch Queen herself that caused the deaths of our last beloved King and Queen!"

"That's not true!" Orihime protested, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. "Rukia didn't cause my parent's ship to get caught in that storm, or for the storm to pop up in the first place; she was right here the whole time and she was devastated when she found out what happened!"

"Ah, Princess Orihime, how does the Witch Queen's sister fare in the wake of this terrible reveal?" He then addressed the crowd again, "Or could it be that the two of them were in league with each other the whole time!" Murmurs circled through the crowd, discussing the validity of the man's accusation.

"My sister isn't a Witch," she insisted, "and neither am I! I'm surprised by everything that's happened so far just like the rest of you and no one's more sorry about it then me." She paused. "...Which is why I'm going after my sister to try and make things right."

This caused the crowd to gasp in shock, either protesting or phrasing against the Princess's rash action.

"I know it doesn't sound very safe," she said, "but it's my fault that Rukia got upset and all this happened in the first place, so I need to be the one to make this right."

"But...Your Highness," an elderly woman wondered, "if you go after the Queen, then who will sit on the throne in your absence?"

Orihime suddenly realized that in her haste to go after her sister, she would be leaving all her subject without a leader.

She didn't have to worry long, as the answer came to her as Aizen brought over the house she'd asked for.

"I won't try to stop you," he said as he helped her into the saddle, "but can I convince you to take some of the guards with you at least? I doubt the woods are that safe after dark."

"Do you really think she wants to see a bunch of soldiers riding up to her after everyone kept calling her a Witch?" Feeling her point was made she turned to the crowd. "Everyone, Aizen of the Southern Isles will act as Regent in my stead, until such time as I return," she announced, trying to sound official. With that Orihime snapped the reins and rode off to find her sister!

"Your Highness!" the guard called after her, pointing in the opposite direction, "the Queen went _that_ way!"

"_I knew that!"_ she said, pulling to a stop and turning around.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

It didn't take her long to realized that riding off into a forest she wasn't familiar with, on her own, in the dead of night, with next to no provisions, wasn't a very smart idea. In fact, it was probably the most foolish thing she'd ever in her short life.

It didn't help that everything was eerily silent, the unnaturally fallen snow muffling her horse's footsteps.

And that she hadn't been keeping track of where she was going.

The horse whinnied.

"It's OK boy," she told it (as much for her benefit), patting its neck, "it's just us out here." While the deafening silence around her seemed to support her claim, she knew that underneath it were the predators that came out at night to hunt.

Snow suddenly fell from a branch that had become too heavy, ringing out through the woods like a knell from a clocktower. The horse reared back, throwing Orihime to the ground, before bolting off into the dark.

"Wait, come back!" she called after the steed, as it soon disappeared from sight.

Now she was lost in the woods, in the dead of night, without a way to cover ground quickly.

She was about to despair when she saw a light in distance. She ran towards it, only to trip and fall down an embankment before coming to rest in a stream that hadn't yet frozen over.

"C-c-c-cold-d-d!" she shivered, standing back up and making her way to the light.

The light source turned out to be a trading post. She tried to climb up the steps, only to find that her dress had frozen solid, turning her skirt into a bell made of frozen water. After a little bit of effort she made it up the steps and in the door, relishing the feeling of heat of her cold skin.

"Welcome to Urahara's Trading Post & Mercantile!" a man sitting behind a counter greeted cheerfully, "May I interest you in any of our seasonal wares? We're currently have a Summer Blowout Sale!"

"Actually," she said as she waddled up to the counter, "you would-d-dn't happen to have any winter clothes, would you?"

"Right over there," the man (presumably Urahara himself) said, pointing to a small corner of the shop reserved for winter related garments and equipment. Fortunately, there was a winter coat and shawl that looked like it would fit her without too much trouble.

"So…," she said, casually leaning against the polished wooden surface, "you haven't by any chance seen, I don't know..._the Queen,_ come by this way?"

"Young lady, the only people who ever come around this neck of the woods are me and my family," he jerked his thumb behind him to a small window. Orihime peeked inside and saw it was a sauna; a woman with exotic dark skin and beautiful ebony hair, a behemoth of a man with a thick mustache, a boy with almost iridescent red hair, and a girl with droopy eyes and bangs that were falling in front of her eyes all sat together, each wrapped in a towel. They all waved to her.

She turned back to Urahara (partially to give the motley crew some privacy) and scrutinized his appearance; he was a bit on the scrawny side, with gaunt looking features and nappy, sand colored hair.

"We may not be related by blood," he said, "but that doesn't mean we don't love and care for each other. Regardless, you're probably the only person I know who would be crazy enough to be out in this surprise winter."

Which is when the door slammed open, revealing a figured standing there, coated from head to toe in powdery snow.

"Well, you and this fellow here," he amended. A split second later he was playing the salesman again, "Welcome to Urahara's Trading Post & Mercantile! We're having a Summer Blowout-"

"Move," the figure said to Orihime, completely ignoring the storekeeper.

"Umm…" Orihime probably would have been more outraged at how rude this person was being...if he weren't so intimidating. As it was she stood transfixed, praying the storekeeper would intervene if this man had less than savory motives.

"You're standing in front of the carrots," the man said, unwrapping his scarf from around his face. He then shoved her to the side and picked up a bundle of carrots and dropping them unceremoniously on the counter.

"Pleasure to see you again, Ichigo!" Urahara said, as "Ichigo" then removed his hat, revealing his wild orange hair, "You here alone or is your brother with you?"

"He's outside," Ichigo said, tossing his hat next to the carrots and walking over to the "winter" section of the store. He grabbed a length of rope and a couple pickaxes from the wall and added them to his pile. He took stock of the rest of the wares and added a couple small bags of herbs to the rest.

"Is that all?" Urahara asked.

"Just tell me how much this will cost," the orange haired young man griped.

"About 65 Jewels in all," the storekeeper calculated. "That's including tax."

"What?! There's no way I can afford that!" He dug around in his pockets and dropped some coins on the counter. "I've got 10 Jewels, that's more than fair."

"Sorry, but 65 is as low as I can go," Urahara explained, "Winter was _supposed_ to be a few more months away, so I've got to raise prices on my non-seasonal items."

"You think you have it ba- Have you even looked outside?" Ichigo gestured hotly at the door. "I sell _ice_ for a living. How am I gonna do that now?"

"Maybe you could say it's special ice," Orihime suggested, "You could carve some designs in them- Ooh! Maybe you could make little statues! I mean, I know _I'd_ like it if I wanted a cold drink, and inside was a little-"

She noticed Ichigo glaring pointedly at her.

"So, uh...I'll shut up now…."

"Seriously," he turned back to Urahara, "ever since that storm sprung up in the northern mountains-"

"Wait, did you see the queen?" Orihime asked, feeling she'd found a lead to her sister, "Can you take me there?"

"Don't you have something better to do?" he asked insensitively, "Last time I checked, chasing after runaway queens wasn't something delicate little _girls_ did in their spare time."

"_Please_ take me up the mountain?" she pleaded, "I'll make it worth your while!"

"Look, if you want to ask someone for help, try the soldiers or find yourself a Knight and let me deal with this crook here."

"I wholly resent that implication, my dear boy," Urahara said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to throw you out of my store."

"You and what army?" Ichigo argued, "You don't look like you've done a day of real work in your life!"

"Oh, I never said _I_ would be the one to do the throwing." The nappy man cupped his hands over his mouth and turned towards the sauna, "Oh _Tessai!_"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Uryu was sitting with the sled outside the trading post, waiting for his rash brother to come back with the supplies. This freak winter had left them unprepared and understocked on a few things, hence why they were all the way out here in the first place when they could have been snug at home with a mug of his favorite drink for cold night: melted chocolate with milk, plus a drop or two of rum for warmth.

But no, his brother had pressured him (like he always did) to come with him to the trading post so they could stock up on things they would need now that winter was upon them in the end of summer.

"Ichigo's taking a while," he said to no one in particular. Well, there was their reindeer, but those creatures had yet to learn the ability to speak, and he needed to something to stave off his boredom, even if that meant listening to his own voice. "...Which probably means he's arguing with Urahara about something stupid." He held up his hand and began counting down on his fingers, "Five, four, three, two…."

A second later Ichigo was thrown through the door of the trading post by Urahara's brother, Tessai (who was wrapped in nothing but a towel at the moment), landing in a rather undignified position. Well, more undignified than Ichigo usually was…

"_I always forget about him,"_ Ichigo stated, his voice muffled slightly by the snow.

"I take it by the fact that your rear end is sticking in the air that you didn't get the equipment we need?" Uryu said, more as a statement than a question.

"_Gee,"_ he lifted his head from the snow, "what was your first clue?" As he made it back to his feet he leaned backwards, stretching a kink out of his back, "Next time, _you_ complain about the prices and get thrown out by a _mountain giant_!"

"Putting aside your 'winning personality'," Uryu said, "what are we going to do now? We don't have any of the equipment we need, and it's the middle of the night."

"Well," Ichigo said, "since it's too dangerous to go _back_, we can just stay in Urahara's barn." He gestured to a structure built out of a large rock, "He barely uses the thing anyway, and there's more than enough room for both us and Sven here." He pattered Sven's face affectionately, "Unless you have a better idea?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"I don't understand it, Ichigo!" Uryu exclaimed suddenly, "How do I let you talk me into everything!?"

"Maybe because I don't worry about all the little details," he said, getting Sven the reindeer settled into an empty stall, "unlike you, Mr. 'Glasses'."

"Being concerned about potentially making enemies when dealing with strangers is _not_ worrying, it's being practical," Uryu corrected. "And someone needs to think like that, what with your uncanny knack for causing trouble."

"Oh please, when have I ever caused trouble?"

"Would you like the list in order of the date or by the amount of destruction you caused?" the bespectacled young man deadpanned.

"You know what your problem is, Brother?" Ichigo ignored Uryu's valid points, choosing instead to lay back in the hay. "You don't have the right attitude about life."

"Tell me some other time," Uryu said, getting comfortable on his own hay, "I'm going get some sleep now so I won't fall asleep on the ride back tomorrow."

Ichigo was about to retort when there was a knock on the barn door.

"I'll see who it is," Uryu said quickly, getting up from his makeshift bed, "if it's Urahara, I'd rather be allowed to return here in the future." He opened the door, but it wasn't Urahara, or any of his oddball family that greeted him.

"Um, hello!" A girl, slightly younger than him, stood in the threshold, holding a heavy looking sack in her arms. "I saw the light on and I was wondering if Ichigo was in here. ...Is he in here?"

"Yes, he is. Excuse me while I go get him." He closed the door and went to stand over his brother, "Care to tell me why the Princess of the Kingdom of Snow is looking for you?"

"Pull the other one!" Ichigo scoffed.

"Oh, so you know of some _other_ young girl around our age with long brown hair that has a streak of very light grey in it?"

"Yeah, that's the girl who was in Urahara's-" Then all the facts began to drop into place, "Wait, SO THAT GIRL WAS THE PRINCESS!?"

"Yes," Uryu confirmed, "she is. And she apparently wants to speak with you."

Ichigo got and and hurried over to the barn door, throwing it open abruptly and demanding "What do you want?"

"Eep!" Orihime squeaked, before regaining her composure and trying to look regal. "Ahem, I want to hire you to take me up the mountain after Queen Rukia-"

"Not gonna happen," he interrupted, "My brother and I have enough problems of our own without chasing after some runaway queen, and even if I wanted to help you I can't because I don't have that gear I was trying to buy."

"But it could help stop this winter," Orihime pleaded, dropping the pretense, "you could sell your ice again! Besides..." She presented the bag she was holding to him, "I got you the stuff you wanted, even the herbs!"

Ichigo snatched the bag from her, rifling through its contents. Sure enough everything was there, including the pouches of herbs he'd grabbed. He looked back up at the Princess, and noticed she was in different clothes than before, namely winter attire.

"How did you even pay for all this?" he asked.

"Th-that not important," she stuttered. "So will you help me?"

Ichigo paused, thinking the situation over.

"...You forgot the carrots," he said bluntly, slamming the door in her face and flopping back down in his hay.

"That was rather rude of you," Uryu pointing out. "Were you even thinking of consulting _me_ on the matter?"

"Nope." He stuck a piece of hay in his mouth and closed his eyes. "Wake me at dawn."

"OK then," Uryu said to himself as he settled down beside their reindeer, "I'll just let you discuss this one with yourself."

He waited for a moment.

"_You know, she'll never make it on her own,"_ Ichigo said, his voice sounding rougher and more gravely than usual.

"So? It's not _my_ fault she decided to do something so stupid," he replied in his normal voice.

"_Like that matters! It's the right thing to do!"_

"And who knows? Maybe she'll get lucky and come back OK."

"Or _you could go with her and she'll get back for sure."_

"...I really hate you sometimes."

"_But I'm still right."_

"I know, that's why I hate you."

"Quite ironic, considering it's _yourself_ you're talking to," Uryu interjected.

"You stay out of this!" Ichigo shouted. He turned to look at his brother, only to find him staring knowingly.

This was the final nail in the coffin for the wild haired young man.

"Fine!" he sighed, exasperating, "We'll help the Princess, OK?"

"I knew you'd see reason."

Then there was another knock on the door.

"_Ichigo! ...um, Ichigo's brother? I have the carrots!"_

"Are you going to let her in or should I?" Uryu asked.

"Don't worry, I'll do it," Ichigo assured his brother. He stomped over to the door and opened it up again, Orihime was smiling and holding out a smaller bag with carrot leaves sticking out of the top.

"I went back and got the carrots," she explained, "sorry about forgetting them before."

"Don't worry about it," Ichigo grumbled, taking the offered vegetables. "If you still want to go into the mountains we leave at dawn."

"Actually, we should probably leave now," Orihime suggested. "The sooner I find my sister the sooner we can stop the winter."

"Not happening," Ichigo said, "we're gonna get some proper rest before we go-"

"I agree with the Princess," interjected Uryu, "The sooner we stop the winter the less money we'll end up losing."

Ichigo looked his brother and the Princess; Uryu's face looked impassive, and Orihime's looked like she was about to burst into tears.

He got the distinct feeling that this was a battle he wasn't likely to win.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_To be continued..._


	4. But her sister followed

_So if anyone notices any more spelling or grammar mistakes, please send me a PM with the heading "Clean up". As careful as I am, I don't always catch every typo before I post things, so if anyone catches anything, let me know so I can fix them._

_Anywho, let's get back to the story, shall we?  
_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Don't you _dare_ say a word," Ichigo warned darkly as he begrudgingly urged Sven forward; it had taken no time to reattach the reindeer's harness back to the sledge, and they were now headed for the Kingdom's mountain range. Uryu had opted to sit in the back, letting the young princess ride next to his brother while he kept watch to the rear.

"I haven't said a word since we left Urahara's," Uryu said, leaning back against the driver's seat. He kept his bespectacled eyes of the forest behind them, alert for any signs of danger.

"I didn't say anything either," Orihime added. She leaned back, putting her hands behind her head and her boots on the railing in front of her, "I've just been enjoying the ride."

"_Oi!_ Boots in the floor!" Ichigo barked, knocking her legs back to the floor of the sledge, "Seriously, I just had fresh lacquer put on; were you raised in a barn or something?"

"No, I was raised in a-"

Orihime was abruptly cut off when Ichigo leaned over and spat on the spot where her feet had been resting, wiping it out with his sleeve.

"...palace," she finished, scouting over slightly to put some distance between her and the uncouth man next to her.

"He gets a little touchy about his sledge," Uryu explained, "He nearly loses his mind when he thinks the paint is scuffed."

"Hey, you would to if you still had seven payments left on it!" Ichigo defended.

They ride in silence for a while before Orihime turned back to Uryu and asked "So is he always so...?"

"No, usually he's worse." Uryu grimaced at the recollection of all the disgusting things his brother tended to do, "Did you know that takes a bite out if the carrots he feeds Sven?"

"That doesn't sound so bad," Orihime said, not quite understanding what the spectacle wearing man was getting at.

"He does it _after_ Sven already takes a bite," he clarified.

_That_ made more sense.

"I only did that _once_!" Ichigo shouted indignantly. He mumbled under his breath, "A guy gets a little hungry one day and he never lives it down..."

"And he has the most _atrocious_ table manners of anyone I've seen."

"Like you ever see anyone else," Ichigo retorted.

"I happen to visit civilization once a month," Uryu reminded him, "you know how hard it is for Mother to leave the house, so I'm her only link to what goes on outside of our property." He turned back to Orihime, "And don't even get me started on the places I find his unwashed undergar-" Smack! "Ow!"

"My turn to ask the questions," he said, drawing his first back; talking about his undergarments was where he drew the line. He turned to Orihime, "For starters, I'm still curious about why you're all the way out here in the first place."

"It's like I told you before," she explained to him, "I'm trying to find the Queen so she can make the winter go away."

Uryu respectfully refrained from mentioning that he had not been present when she's told his brother this, as the question had been on his mind for a while as well.

"You see," Orihime began, "she and I kind of had a _slight_ disagreement about my fiance…"

"So you didn't approve of him?" Uryu deduced.

She shook her head, "Nope, _she_ didn't approve. Which was kind of unreasonable since she'd only just met him, and-"

"Wait, so she didn't meet with this man in the entire time you two were betrothed?"

"Oh, we'd only just gotten engaged before we told her."

Both boys were now staring agape at her.

"...What?"

"You'd just met this man…"

"And you got engaged?" Ichigo finished.

"Yep!~" Orihime chirped. "So we went to ask for her blessing and we argued a bit and _surprise!_ She suddenly magic winter powers!"

"You got engaged to someone you just met?" Uryu wondered, clearly having trouble wrapping his mind around the concept.

"Yeah," Orihime said patiently, "and then we argued, and then the winter magic, and then people started calling her a witch so she ran away-"

"You got _engaged_ to a man you _just met?!_" Uryu repeated, louder and with more indignation this time.

"Yes Uryu, that's what happened. Please try to keep up," Ichigo said patronizingly, "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!"

"So you're saying," Uryu said to Orihime, ignoring his brother, "that you got _engaged_, meaning that you are willing to marry this person and be with them for the rest of your life, to a _complete stranger_ that you just met?!"

"Aizen's not a stranger!" she cried, "I know lots about him!"

"Really?" Ichigo challenged, "Then what's his last name?"

"'_Of the Southern Isles'!_" she said proudly.

"Favorite food?"

"Chocolate covered strawberries."

"Mother's name?"

"_Mrs._ Of the Southern Isles."

"Foot size?"

"Foot size doesn't matter."

"Orihime," Uryu asked hesitantly, "why did you agree to that in the first place?"

"True love!..." she said dreamily, causing Ichigo to scoff and roll his eyes.

"Gag me," he said, "Now be quiet."

"Oh come on! Just because _you_ don't have a-"

"No, seriously, shut up!" Ichigo clamped his hand over Orihime's mouth, looking around the forest. "Uryu?"

"I heard them too," he said, digging a bow out from the back of the sledge. "I recommend going faster."

It was then that they could see eyes begin to reflect in the torchlight.

"You read my mind." Ichigo snapped the reins, urging Sven to pick up speed. Unfortunately, the eyes began to follow and keep up with them.

"Those scary, glowing eyes don't look good," Orihime pointed out.

"It's the teeth those eyes belong to that I'm more worried about," Uryu said, just as a snarling direwolf came into the light.

Uryu quickly drew an arrow back in his bow, letting it fly as the the direwolf leapt at the sledge; the arrow found its mark in the beast's skull.

"Wow, good shot!" Orihime praised, impressed with her guide's archery skill.

"I get a lot of practice," Uryu said, notching another arrow, "I could probably shoot a hawk down while it's diving if I wanted."

"Focus on keeping the wolves away from my sledge!" Ichigo retorted, dodging and weaving through trees in an effort to shake the creatures pursuing them. "I'm out of wax to buff the scratches out!"

"I could drive for a bit if you want to help Uryu," Orihime suggested.

"And let you run into every tree in the forest?" Ichigo balked, "Not-"

He was about to say "Happening", but one of the more agile direwolves jumped and grabbed him by his sleeve, pulling him out of his seat. He managed to grab into the side before he fell off completely, but with the wolf weighing him down he couldn't pull himself back up.

"Ichigo!" Orihime cried, grabbing the torch and throwing it at the attacking wolf.

It completely missed its intended target, falling harmlessly into the snow.

"Grab the reins!" he shouted, kicking futilely at his unwanted passenger. Orihime did so, swerving just in time to miss a tree. Thankfully, Ichigo was on the opposite side from the tree.

"Are you _trying _scratch up my ride?" he demanded.

"Just avoid the trees," Uryu instructed, finishing off his own assailant, "I'll help Ichigo!" He kicked the snout of a direwolf that had jumped on the back of the sledge, then leaned over the side with an arrow at the ready. He shot the wolf holding onto Ichigo right in the eye, causing it to fall to the ground, then helped pull his brother back up.

"You're letting her _drive_?!" Ichigo yelled at his brother.

"It was somewhat unavoidable!" he protested.

"_Nobody_ drives my sledge but me!"

"We would be more likely to crash into things if no one was driving!"

"Do you have _no_ concept of personal property?"

"Oh! This coming from the man who uses _my_ hairbrush to _brush Sven!"_

"Only because you never put _his_ brush back where it's supposed to be!"

"I always do that! And if you can't find it, why not just use your _own_?"

"I use my own hairbrush, genius!"

"And you don't think _I _do _as well_?"

"Wait, are you using my hairbrush?"

"Um, Ichigo, Uryu?" Orihime finally interjected, "Is that ravine supposed to be there?"

Both boys stopped bickering and immediately raced to the front of the sledge and otters ahead. Sure enough, there's a deep that's getting closer and closer to them. Thinking quickly, Uryu tossed Orihime onto Sven's back while Ichigo took a knife from his boot and began cutting Sven's harness loose; despite the prospect of him losing his beloved sledge, Ichigo knew that the four of their lives weren't as easy to replace.

As they reached the edge of the deep drop Sven leaped, Orihime holding onto his neck for dear life until he landed safely on the other side of the gap. The sledge itself flew into empty space, suspended in midair for a moment due to its speed, before gravity took its course. The two brothers leaped from the sledge before it fell too far, managing to catch the edge of the cliff and pull themselves up.

"Are you two OK?" Orihime fretted.

"Forget about me," Ichigo snapped, scurrying to the edge of the ravine, "what about the sledge!" He peered over the edge and saw that, miracle of miracles, the sledge had come to rest on a branch a little ways down, a little battered but ultimately still intact.

Uryu and Orihime peeked over as well.

"Wow!" she marveled, amazed at the completely impossible odds coming together. She shifted her position to get a better view, "It doesn't look very sturdy, though."

Even as she said this, a bit of snow fell over the edge, landing in the sledge's seat. This was apparently too much weight for the branch to handle and the sledge slid off the branch and fell to the bottom of the ravine, bursting into splinters.

For a moment no one said anything, not even Sven (who had wandered over to see what the funny humans were doing).

"...and _this,_" the orange haired young man said, getting to his feet, "is why _women_," he glared at Orihime, "_shouldn't, drive_." He then stomped over to a nearby tree and began pounding his head against it repeatedly.

"Um…?"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Uryu said in answer to Orihime's unasked question, "he hardly has a brain to damage anyway."

"_I heard that_!" Ichigo shouted before continuing with his head bashing.

"Just give him some time," Uryu assured the princess, sitting down by another tree, "we should probably camp here for the rest of the night; we can continue in the morning after some rest."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

The next morning the three companions (plus one reindeer) awoke, weary but willing, and set out to continue the search for the missing Queen.

Since the events of the previous night, Ichigo had gone out of his way to give the young princess the cold shoulder, often ignoring her outright or pretending she didn't exist to her face. Despite his protests to the contrary he was taking the loss of his sledge quite hard.

"Look, I said you don't have to worry about it," he told Orihime after a bout of particularly persistent pestering, "I can always buy another sledge."

"But it's partially _my _fault that you lost it in the first place!" she insisted, "_Please_ let me buy you a new one; I'm the Royal Princess, I can get you any sledge you want!"

"I said forget it!" Ichigo snapped, "I'll just buy one myself with all the money you're gonna me us for going through all this trouble."

"Well, OK, if that's what you want," Orihime hesitantly agreed. "...are you sure I can't just buy you one? It really won't be a problem!"

"Look you little pipsqueak, I said-"

"Let's table the issue of compensation for the moment," Uryu wisely suggested. "Right now, I think we should all just take a break and admire the scenery."

Both the Princess and the Iceman were about to protest, when they actually took notice of their surroundings; they had wandered into a ice covered glade, but unlike the rest of the land the ice hung to everything like dewdrops. With the sun already high in the sky, the effect was quite brilliant.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stop for a _few_ minutes," Ichigo relented.

"You're right, it's beautiful!" marveled Orihime, staring in awe at the beauty that surrounded them. "It's like something from a fairytale book!"

"_It thure doeth, huh?_"

"Are you OK Ichigo?" Orihime asked, "Your voice sounds a little funny."

"What are you talking about?"

"You just spoke in a lisp."

"No I didn't!"

"_What'th a lithp?"_

"I'm surprised you don't know that, Uryu," Ichigo said. "You see, it's when someone-"

"I know what a 'lisp' is!" Uryu protested, "I didn't say anything!"

"_I did!"_ the new voice clarified, "_Down here!"_

The trio (plus reindeer) all looked and saw a little girl suddenly standing in their midst. To be more accurate, it was a little girl made entirely out of snow, and she was waving at them with a large, goofy grin on her face.

Ichigo was the first to react.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" On reflex he kicked at the snow child, managing to knock her head off.

Orihime caught it before it flew away, staring at it quizzically; it was very detailed for being made out of snow, and upon closer inspection actually look rather cute and cherubic. In fact, it almost looked like-

"Are dose freckleth or ith your face jutht dirty?"

"It's alive!" she shrieked, tossing the still living head away.

"Aaaaaaah!" the head screamed as it flew through the air.

"Aaaaaaah!" Uryu screamed as the head flew towards him. He swatted at it as it was about to hit him ("OW!"), and managed to hit it back to its body, which was running aimlessly around the immediate area.

"Ahh, dat's better...Why ith evrwyone hanging off dah earth like batth?"

Of course, not particularly concerned with the effect of his action, the head landed upside down on the body.

"Just hang on a second," Orihime said, walking over to the little snowgirl; after the initial shock had worn off she actually found the strange creature kind of adorable. She grabbed the girl's head, turned it right side up, and placed back on her body. "There! Better?"

"Yup!" the snow girl chirped, holding out her hand, "I'm Nel! What's you name?"

Orihime bend down and shook Nel's hand, "I'm Orihime, it's nice to meet you, Nel!"

"Thame here!" Then she leaned in close and whispered "Tho who'th dah funky lookin' donkey over dere?" She pointed to where Ichigo was hiding behind Sven.

"Oh, that's Sven," Orihime explained.

"OK...and who'th dah Reindeer?" Nel pointed to Sven. (Ichigo looked offended.)

"...Uh, Sven," she answered hesitantly. She noticed Uryu cautiously inching closer to Nel with a stick in his hand, "And that's Uryu."

"Hi Uryu!" Nel said, abruptly turning to greet the bespectacled man. She held out her left arm to shake hands with him, only to realize that she didn't actually have one. "Uh, can I thee dat thtick?"

"...Be my guest," Uryu relinquished the stick, having had better luck coming to terms with this new creature than his brother. Nel grabbed the stick with her right hand, sticking it in her left shoulder. Having done that, she flexed the stick experimentally, the stick now acting like an arm (including a set of four fingers on the end of it).

"Remarkable...," Uryu breathed, both wary and intrigued.

"Tho what are you guyth doin' out here?" Nel asked Orihime.

"We're looking for my sister," Orihime explained sullenly. "You see, we had a big fight yesterday, and on top of that Rukia was chased out of town because everyone thought she was a witch-"

"Oh, I know where Rukia ith!" Nel said excitedly, interrupting the princess, "I could take you dere if you want."

"You know where she is?!" Now Orihime was bursting with excitement; having someone take them directly to her sister was _much_ better than wandering around the mountains aimlessly. "Did you meet her?"

"No..." Nel hung her head in shame, but perked back up almost immediately, "But I know dat she made me!" Then her mood shifted abruptly to suspicious. "Why do yah wanna find her?"

"So I can apologize," she assured the snow girl, "and to ask her to stop the winter." Orihime explained further when she saw Nel looking somewhat confused, "See, it's actually summer right now, but now all the citizens won't be able to do all the fun summer activities they'd normally be doing now; swimming in the lakes, having a picnic in a field of wildflowers, running through tall grass while playing tag with friends, laying under the hot summer sun-"

Suddenly she realized who she was talking to, and threw her hands over her mouth to halt her careless rant. She was going to apologize to Nel for being so insensitive...only to find Nel staring off at nothing, with drool leaking from the side of her mouth and making a low, droning sound.

Uryu put his hand on Orihime's shoulder. "Allow me," he offered, before snapping his fingers next to Nel's head.

"Uuuuu- _Thummer thoundth awethome_!" Nel cheered, abruptly snapping back to awareness.

"It does?" Orihime wondered aloud, confused; this was not the reaction she was expecting from the little snow child.

"Thure doeth!" Nel confirmed. She then started prancing around and singing about the glories of Summer. Well, not so much "singing" as stringing words together musically, sometimes managing to sound like a verse.

During all this, Ichigo had rejoined the princess and his brother, still wary of the little moving snow sculpture and preferred the strength in numbers.

"She's terrible at that," he commented, only to receive an elbow in the gut from the humans in either side of him.

"_~... And winter'th a great time tah thtay in an' cuddle,~_" Nel sang, "_~but put me in thummer and I'll be a-_" She stopped suddenly, adopting a hard thinking pose. "Hmm, what word whymes with 'cuddle'?..." she pondered.

"How about 'puddle'?" Ichigo said under his breath, earning a glare from Uryu and a smack to the shoulder from Orihime.

_"~Happy Snowman!~" _she finally decided, continuing her prancing.

"Well, she seems friendly enough," Uryu said, clearing his throat. "Um...Nel, was it?"

"Yeth?"

"Would you mind taking us to where Queen Rukia is?"

"No problem! Jutht follow me!"

"I'm gonna tell her," Ichigo said as Nel lead them further up the mountain.

"Don't you dare!" Orihime snapped, whirling around and jabbing her finger in his face, "You'll break her little heart, and if that happens I'll never forgive you." She then began to huffily ignore _him_.

"C'mon! She's gotta learn eventually!"

Uryu then walked up to his brother, leading Sven by the bridle, and smacked him upside his head before going to join Orihime.

"OK, since when did today become 'Pick on Ichigo day'?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

In the Royal City things had not improved. Granted, Aizen had managed to set up shelters in the unused rooms in the palace, round up as many warm clothes and blankets as could and distribute them to the people, and some of the more altruistic citizens had a large cauldron of soup brewing, but with the princess gone the entire night and no sign of the winter stopping, morale was starting to drop.

However, a bigger problem was beginning to arise; the man on the wagon before had ceased his grandstanding, but had continued to spread his dissent quietly among the people, and had formed a posse of his strongest supporters.

"_Mr._ Aizen, may we have a word with you?"

Aizen turned around from placing a blanket on an elderly woman to find the man and his posse coming towards him.

"Go on to the cooks and get yourself an extra helping of soup; tell them Aizen said it was fine." He gently shooed the woman away and turned to posse, "What can I do for you, gentlemen?"

"We want to go after the Witch," one of the posse demanded, "If we don't do anything soon she'll freeze the whole country over!" The others echoed his sentiment.

"I understand your concerns," Aizen assured them, "but I'm not going to do anything, rash or otherwise, until the princess returns."

"And who's to say she even _will_ return?" the leader asked. "When I was younger, the village I grew up in was taken over by a witch who could control spiders. It took years and many of my friends dying in the process, to finally deal with the witch and heal the damage she did. Before that happened, the witch would occasionally kidnap beautiful young woman and send them back days later, beaten and barely even alive. My betrothed was one of those victims, and unlike most of the others, she did not live long after that experience."

"_Sir Aizen!"_ One of the servants ran up to the group, "Sir Aizen, the princess's horse just returned!"

This perked Aizen's spirits up considerably.

"Splendid! Where is she?"

"Um, the horse is male, sir."

"I didn't mean the horse," he said, "I meant the prin-" Then it hit him what the servant _hadn't_ said. "Go to the Captain of the Guard and tell him to sent me his best men." The servant nodded and headed off, and Aizen turned back to the posse, "If you still wish to find Queen Rukia, then follow me."

He lead the men out to the courtyard, where they met up with a small squad of soldiers.

"These are my best men," the Captain said, "What are they going to do?"

"I'm going out to find Princess Orihime and bring her back," he explained, "along with Queen Rukia."

"Are you insane!" the posse leader cried, "We should be hunting down the witch and driving a stake through her heart!"

"What were doing is looking for the princess," Aizen emphasized, "not staging an execution. If it comes to it you may defend yourselves, but we will not kill the queen in cold blood." He addressed the posse as a whole, "If any of you have an issue with that then feel free to stay behind; you'll only be a hinderance otherwise."

The leader sighed in resignation, "Let me speak with my men for a moment."

The posse of "Witch Hunters" broke off from the soldiers, speaking amongst themselves just out of earshot. After a couple minutes three of the men returned, the rest heading back to the town.

"We don't mind following your lead on this," one of them said, "But if it comes down to killing the Queen, we want to strike the final blow."

Aizen nodded, finding this acceptable. He had no intention of letting things come to that, but if the Queen's death was the only way to end the unnatural winter then he wouldn't dismiss the option.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_To be continued..._


End file.
